


Blended Mediums

by Echo (Lyrecho)



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, Art Friends, Gen, Oneshot, Post-Game(s), Trains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 16:43:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11855625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyrecho/pseuds/Echo
Summary: Yusuke encounters an intriguing girl at a train station.|Tumblr||Twitter|





	Blended Mediums

**Author's Note:**

> this idea just hit me and I literally don't know

Yusuke had just stepped off the train when he noticed the girl.

She was sitting on the platform floor, leaning against the brick wall with her legs curled beneath her and skirt spread out, seemingly unaware of the scowls and glares being sent her way as people stepped over her.

If Ryuji had been there, he probably would have made a joke about Yusuke, girls, and train stations, with Ann fuming quietly in the background - but as it was, even alone, his own mind filled in the gaps of a conversation his friends would form easily enough.

Besides, Ryuji's claims would be meaningless. Encountering Ann had set off a spark inside him - the moment he had seen her he knew he would have to paint her. This girl, while beautiful - hair a vivid crimson that seemed all the brighter for the pale white of her dress, made of lace and satin layered in a Gothic lolita style - wasn't a subject for art.

No, looking at the charcoal smudging her fingers and the notebook she held in her hands, she was an artist herself.

Later, Yusuke wouldn't be able to honestly pinpoint what it had been about the girl - woman, really, clearly older than him by several years - that had made him wander over to her. It couldn't have been her fingers flying over the paper alone, sketching out the quick strokes that her gaze flickered along the bustling crowd; street artists where far from rare anywhere in Tokyo, and he'd never really felt the urge to go up and speak to them for no reason before.

He supposed he could only pin it to a sort of...stirring, coming to life inside him as he stared across the platform from his place just behind the yellow line. If Goemon hadn't been silent for nearly a year since that Christmas Eve, he would have almost thought his persona was trying to reach out to him.

The girl blinked up at him as he shook his stupor off - her eyes were dark, though that could have just been the dim lighting of the station. "Can I help you?" She asked.

Yusuke gazed down at the notebook balanced atop her thighs, taking in the messy lines of charcoal that blended shades to form an image of the platform before them distorted - a chill ran down his spine as his mind automatically connected the image in the sketch to the images of Mementos in his memory. 

"I saw you sketching," he said, half absentmindedly as he tore his eyes up from her notebook to lock with her own. "I'm sorry if I'm intruding."

She shook her head, and the red of her hair shifted to reveal silver ribbons braided around her face. "I don't mind," she said, and looked down at her own art. "I'm just trying to pass time while I wait for my boyfriend's train."

Yusuke nodded. "I understand," he said, even though truthfully, he didn't - her answer hadn't connected to his question at all - "if I'm not overstepping, then may I ask - what's the meaning behind the distortions in the image?" He hesitated, wondering just how much he could say. "I feel...a deep unease radiating from this image."

Surprisingly, she smiled at him. "You're sharp," she complimented quietly. "Not everyone can read a message so well." A pale finger traced the line of motion the image followed. "People make me uneasy," she said, and he blinked at how simple the answer was. "It's easier to see the truth in the dark, I think."

"That's an interesting way of looking at things," Yusuke began, cutting off his own train of thought as he felt his phone buzz in his pocket - Futaba, a quick glance at the screen revealed, wondering where he was and why he was late.

(don't tell me you need a babysitter for the train now, inari, the message read in truth, but Yusuke was versed well enough in Futaba-speak these days to pick up on the nuances of the words left in the spaces between.)

"It was nice speaking with you." He glanced from his phone to the girl, and offered her a smile of his own when he saw her staring up at him. "It's rare for people to take a minute to stop, especially in Tokyo." She jerked her chin up at his phone. "But if you have people waiting on you, then you should go. Besides," she added, and pointed to the incoming train, "that should be my boyfriend now." Her smile widened. "He's a baseball player, you know?"

Yusuke hadn't. Nevertheless, he returned her soft smile just as sincerely, and dipped into a shallow bow before making his departure. "Yusuke," he offered his name as farewell. "It was a pleasure to see your art."

"It was a pleasure to speak with you," the girl replied, and waved goodbye. "And my name is Chidori."


End file.
